Allan Scott Effervesce

The wine aged beneath the currents of the Marlborough Sounds

Allan Scott Family Winemakers wanted to do something no one else in New Zealand was doing: age Méthode Traditionnelle wine on the ocean floor. For nine years, bottles of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay rested 13 metres deep in the Marlborough Sounds. The result was a wine shaped not just by tradition, but by the cold, salty, unpredictable environment of the sea.

We worked with their team to help name the wine, craft the story, and produce packaging that showcased the raw beauty of this wine.

A bottle of allan scott effervesce in a custom made box

Over time, the bottles developed layers of natural build-up—salt, shell, and coral-like textures. The bottles went down en tirage, still on their lees and sealed with crown caps, the secondary fermentation (in the bottle) actually happened under water. When they came back up, each bottle had to be disgorged by hand to ensure coral and marine growth wasn’t stripped off. The sea didn’t just store the wine, it truly helped create it. It plays a crucial part in its journey, taste and appearance. The packaging needed to honour this process, tell the story clearly, and give weight to the patience, craft, and uniqueness of the wine.

Product Naming and Story Development

We named the wine Effervesce—a word that captured both the bubbles of Méthode Traditionnelle and a sense of energy and discovery. The concept was built around duality: land and sea, precision and wildness, tradition and innovation. We knew the packaging couldn’t rely on a polished bottle or a flashy look. Instead, it had to feel deliberate, layered, and respectful of the story behind the wine.

Packaging Design

The box was designed to feel premium but grounded. We did this through colour (deep teal/turquoise representing the Sounds, and the gold representing the fertile soils of the Wairau Plains), visualising the unique eco-system of the Marlborough (coral and scallops, paired with the twisting grape vines). Spot gloss, gold foil and embossing created texture and light play, referencing the way light moves underwater. Inside, a handcrafted leather neck cuff, made by a local Whakatū Nelson leatherworker, adds a tactile, human detail. It wraps the bottle like a strap on a piece of dive gear or an old keepsake. The bottle itself is left untouched—covered in the salt and growth that naturally formed over time. The packaging frames the bottle rather than hiding or cleaning it. It’s presented as-is, because the ageing process is the point.

Credits

Leather keepsake by Xavier Napoleon
Photography by Daniel Allen